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I’ve asked Makana Cameron to respond to some questions I posed to him about his protest song that he sang in front of the APEC 2011 World Leaders last nght… and if he is even as close to tired as I am… I don’t expect him to return my answers anytime soon.

Makana Cameron "Occupy With Aloha" at the APEC 2011 World Leaders Dinner

In the meantime… the following video is going viral and when I have his direct comments posed to the questions I asked… I will post them later.

Here is the actual video taken on 11.12.11 in Honolulu on the grounds of the highly secured Hale Koa military hotel and facility in Waikiki:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/H-M07v8N_eU]

Makana writes:

My guitar tech shot this with a camera phone during my performance for the World Leaders Dinner at APEC, which was hosted by the First Family.

He had to be extremely discreet as Secret Service had warned those on site that any phones used to capture photography or video would be confiscated. Since he has a guitar tuner app on the phone we were able to justify having it out, but grabbing video was not easy. We were under constant surveillance. Personally I like to have video of every performance. It’s my art and my right.

About an hour into my set of generally ambient guitar music and Hawaiian tunes, I felt inspired to share some songs that resonated with the significance of the occasion.

I sang a few verses from “Kaulana Na Pua” (a famous Hawaiian protest song in honor of the anniversary of our Queen’s passing), then segued into Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”, Sting’s “Fragile”, and finally my newest song “We Are The Many”.

My goal was not to disturb the guests in an offensive fashion but rather to subliminally fill their ears and the entire dinner atmosphere with a message that might be more effectively received in a subconscious manner. I sweetly sang lines like “You enforce your monopolies with guns/ While sacrificing our daughters and sons/ But certain things belong to everyone/ Your thievery has left the people none”. The event protocol was such that everyone there kept their expressions quite muffled. Now and then I would get strange, befuddled stares from heads of state. It was a very quiet room with no waiters; only myself, the sound techs, and the leaders of almost half the world’s population.

If I had chosen to disrupt the dinner and force my message I would have been stopped short. I instead chose to deliver an extremely potent message in a polite manner for a prolonged interval.

I dedicate this action to those who would speak truth to power but were not allowed the opportunity.

Me ka ha’aha’a,

Makana

Here is the full video of the song that he sang that he uploaded a few days before the APEC 2011 Concert: